15th Meeting 60th Session of Human Rights Council UN Web TV
Description
- Item 3: Interactive dialogue with Working Group on arbitrary detention (Cont’d)
SPEAKERS:
Redress Trust, Ms. Jennifer Robinson
发言内容：
Madam Vice-President, I thank the Redress Trust for the opportunity to address the Council.
We are grateful to the Working Group for its important work on arbitrary detention and the abuse of national security laws to silence and detain those calling for democracy and free speech, including in Hong Kong.
Back in 2020, the Working Group – along with other UN experts – warned that journalists could be targeted under overly broad national security and sedition laws in Hong Kong.
This is precisely what has happened.
The case of Jimmy Lai is emblematic of how the Hong Kong authorities are using these laws to silence and arbitrarily detain journalists and pro-democracy campaigners.
Mr Lai is 77 year old British pro-democracy campaigner, media owner, and prisoner of conscience. He is being prosecuted for his fearless journalism at Apple Daily and for advocating for human rights and democracy in Hong Kong. If convicted, he faces life imprisonment.
Last year, the Working Group issued its opinion in Mr Lai’s case. It found that Mr Lai is arbitrarily detained, his right to a fair trial has been repeatedly violated, and that he should be released immediately.
Almost a year later, Mr Lai remains in prison awaiting verdict. He has spent more than 4.5 years in prolonged solitary confinement – and in conditions that pose grave risk to his life.
We call on China and the Hong Kong authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Mr Lai.
We urge the Working Group and the Council to raise Mr Lai’s case along with the cases of all those who are being unlawfully and arbitrarily detained in Hong Kong for exercising their internationally protected rights, and to call for their immediate and unconditional release.
消息来源：
1.UN WEB TV, 15th Meeting – 60th Session of Human Rights Council,https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1j/k1j6dkfsn0.
